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Pi Microscope

A mostly printed digital microscope powered by a Rasperry Pi Zero W

braunscncBraunsCNC
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  • Description
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  • Files 12
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  • Components 11
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  • Logs 0
  • Instructions 0
  • Discussion 17
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  • braunscncBraunsCNC

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microscope 3D printed raspberry pi

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This project was created on 10/12/2019 and last updated 4 years ago.

Description

This is a low cost digital microscope that can ouput a video signal over HDMI as well as capture 1920x1080@30fps video clips. It can be modified to mount different lenses, so you can adapt it to your needs.

Although I have used aluminum for the base plate and rotary knob, those could be 3D printed like most of the other parts.

Details

Files

PiMicroscope.step

step - 3.62 MB - 10/12/2019 at 19:13

Download

PiMicroscope.stl

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 2.80 MB - 10/12/2019 at 19:13

Download

Base.stl

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 54.28 kB - 10/12/2019 at 14:26

Download

Camera Holder.stl

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 113.17 kB - 10/12/2019 at 14:28

Download

Knob.stl

Standard Tesselated Geometry - 174.01 kB - 10/12/2019 at 19:12

Download

View all 12 files

Components

  • 1 × Raspberry Pi Zero W
  • 1 × Camera Module V1.3 (Sensor mounted directly on flex cable)
  • 1 × 12mm Rod (roughly 140mm long)
  • 1 × 5mm Rod (roughly 42mm long)
  • 1 × 20x Macro Lens

View all 11 components

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Claude Couture wrote 04/01/2020 at 15:43 • point

I have tried several of the numerous tutorial about connecting to the pi zero through ssh without success. Why not post a pre-configured file here that we could burn using etcher?

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jim wrote 01/30/2020 at 04:49 • point

Sooo...I am really enjoying the microscope but I would like to be able to get back to my desktop/GUI. As it is, when I plug in the power it goes straight to camera and nothing else. I am py illiterate so any help greatly appreciated. Is there a piece of software I can add to the pi to use the camera? TIA, Jim

  Are you sure? yes | no

Bram109 wrote 11/27/2019 at 20:29 • point

I have updated some of BraunsCNC's files to add some features I was looking for.  They can be found on my profiles at Thingiverse or PrusaPrinters

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3977448

https://www.prusaprinters.org/social/22177-bram109/prints

Let me know if you want any changes.  I am still messing around with the knob and rack and pinion on the mount.  I don't have a lens yet so I can't check the dimensions of the camera mount but let me know if you print one and it fits!

  Are you sure? yes | no

jeffhstuart wrote 11/01/2019 at 23:25 • point

I live  outside  the US and would like to purchase the 3D printed parts from you.

Could you give me a price on them

Thank you

jeffhstuart@gmail.com

  Are you sure? yes | no

Fred Fourie wrote 10/28/2019 at 07:41 • point

I would like to know more about the lens you used? the one example photo looks very sharp.

  Are you sure? yes | no

fv3rdugo wrote 01/13/2021 at 17:41 • point

I have tried with some lense from an old scanner. With this perfectly focuses the components of a PCB. I had them from those days of scrounging for parts.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Hermann Stamm-Wilbrandt wrote 10/24/2019 at 18:43 • point

I did buy a 15$ aluminum alloy micoscope holder and used 2 Lego pieces to mount a M12 lens:
https://stamm-wilbrandt.de/en/forum/microscope.10cm.png
I achieved 0.121µm/pixel resolution by adding an aluminum tube added between camera sensor and lens, which is really cool:
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=210605&start=50#p1409956

I used 1m long camera cable, which allowed me to use any of my PIs as needed.

This is video with 0.7µm/pixel resolution only. It shows the slowest motion I have ever captured, 0.347µm/s speed(!):
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=210605&start=50#p1409065

Arducam sells 16MP IMX298 camera that does run on Raspberry Pi CSI-2 camera interface, which allows you to capture 4672x3496 frames, which might even get below v2 camera 0.121µm/pixel resolution. I have not tested, but

0.121*3280/4672=0.085µm/pixel resolution is likely possible with that camera:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=254405&p=1553559&hilit=imx298#p1553559

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mike wrote 10/23/2019 at 20:22 • point

Great work.  Just starting to work with the Pi Zero/W.  Could you just stream the video and watch it on your laptop at a static IP address?  Then you would only need a power cable.  Just a thought...

  Are you sure? yes | no

Tyler Gerritsen wrote 10/29/2019 at 15:12 • point

I'm also interested in streaming over wifi as I don't have an extra display.  Very nice work, I'm planning on building one!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jacob MacLeod wrote 10/18/2019 at 18:07 • point

Cool!

  Are you sure? yes | no

Rupert Hirst wrote 10/17/2019 at 22:38 • point

Nice project!!!

I got one of these lenses for my webcam microscope. works really well and cheap!! 

I think i paid about $5 delivered

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HD-CCTV-Lens-3-0MP-M12-2-8-12mm-Varifocal-cctv-IR-HD-Lens-F1-4-manual-B5H4-/282980612091

Shockingly well made also :P

  Are you sure? yes | no

Dan Maloney wrote 10/14/2019 at 16:51 • point

Sorry, can't help myself. I actually really like this - been looking for a microscope for the bench, so I'll have to keep this in mind. Those USB adapters hanging off the side make me a little nervous, though - I'd probably get a right-angle micro-USB cable to relocate the SD card adapter, and maybe power the Pi Zero off the header pins. 

Have you tried any precision work like soldering  under the scope yet? Just wondering how the ergonomics are.

  Are you sure? yes | no

fdufnews wrote 10/14/2019 at 19:58 • point

for welding, it is necessary to have a stereoscopic vision, otherwise you lack the depth information and it is difficult to adjust the position of the tip of your soldering iron

  Are you sure? yes | no

BraunsCNC wrote 10/15/2019 at 16:39 • point

It wouldn‘t be a great soldering microscope, at least with the lens I used. The distance between the lens and object is to small (<1cm) to hold a soldering iron in between comfortably.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Jo wrote 10/23/2019 at 19:38 • point

Dan, I'd almost be inclined to use a Pi-3 or similar just to get the built in HDMI and extra USB-A ports.  It would be a bigger board, but maybe a tidier overall build given you'd connect the HDMI straight in, and the SD Card adapter could then be a USB Type-A micro SD dongle (something like this https://www.8immoto.com/products/typec-typea-reader).

That being said - it's a tidy mechanical build!

  Are you sure? yes | no

John Pfeiffer wrote 10/31/2019 at 06:16 • point

With a Pi 3/3B/3B+ the board could be mounted anywhere, even in the base, with just a ribbon cable running to the camera... 🤔

As compact and cost-effective as a Zero is, I'd be more inclined to go with a Pi 3 just for the more robust USB situation.  I've got three Pi Zeros, and by god I hate those micro USB ports with a passion. 😐

  Are you sure? yes | no

Dan Maloney wrote 10/14/2019 at 16:45 • point

So... a "Pi-croscope"?

I'll let myself out.

  Are you sure? yes | no

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